IN THE NEWS

TOUR OF THE MONTH

ON THIS DAY IN LONDON

14th August 1967 Pirate radio stations Radio 270, Radio London, Radio Ireland

14th August 1948 The first Summer Olympics to be held since 1936, were closed in London.

14th August 1941 Josef Jakobs, German spy, executed in Tower of London

14th August 1903 Born today: Ronald Stewart, CEO (London Brick Co)

14th August 1867 Forsyte Saga author John Galsworthy was born in Kingston Upon Thames.

14th August 1802 Poet and novelist Letitia Elizabeth Landon (LEL) was born in Chelsea, London.

Playwright Harold Pinter's Home

Dramatist and playwright Harold Pinter was born here in Clapton.

Location: 19 Thistlewaite Road, Clapton

Description: Harold Pinter CBE (19302008) was a Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. He was born here in this house into a working class Jewish family.

He attended Hackney Downs Grammar School, where he was encouraged by inspirational English teacher Joe Brearley, and his first published poetry appeared in the school newspaper.

His best-known plays (for he did lots of radio, TV and film productions too) include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted to film. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1970), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993), and Sleuth (2007).

There was a blue plaque unveiled here in September 2012 by his widow, Lady Antonia Fraser Pinter. Ian Rathbone of Clapton Pond Neighborhood Action Group said: It is important to note that someone as internationally known and respected as Harold Pinter came from such relatively humble beginnings.